Italian Riviera too

Went to a nice little beach town called Cap d' Ail on eastern french riveira today. This is very different beach with craggy rocks and cliffs. As we had made the norm, spent more than 2 hours swimming, lazing around the beach, and swimming into a cave accesible only from the sea. While swimming towards it, I could see a whole flock of little blacks things flying out from there. For a moment I stopped thinking them to be bats. don't really like them. I did not have my glasses, so could not see clearly. But, they are just some little black birds, a British couple on a nearby boat assured me. So, I and Hazem entered the cave. Tried to climb onto the sides, but only got ourselves cut from the sharp craggy roacks. And anyway did not want to spend too much time in some dark damp cave - had seen too many Loss Ness monster movies and had become psychologically damaged, you see!
Right after that, we went again to Monaco to see it during day. Walked along the old city, and the king's palace. It seems the king was supposed to go in or out of the palace pretty soon, so the royal guards were shooing away tourists who were too curious. And then we decided to go to Italian riviera - actually just across the french/monaco border. My friends wanted to "tick" Italy, patel style. The little Italian town was very similar to France, except the cars and roads. It was completely crazy at each crossing; with no signals or stops signs, it was might is right. and hence there were frequent jams and honking too. And I was so used to this driving too. Had cheap 4 euro pizzas from a restaurant, which was good except for the fact that they charged 1.5 Euro of couvre. That is the cover they charge for us sitting in the nice beach side open air restaurant. Started driving back along the A-8 highway from there at 7:30 pm. Was already too late, with atleast a 7 hour journey left back to Lausanne. The highway was very similar to those of US. I was driving at 140-180 kms/hr, along with most of the other cars. Without really stopping anywhere except gas fillups, we reached Grenoble at midnight, dropped Hazem at his home, had some cold pizzas for a late-dinner (my friends had insisted on buying it seeing the 4Euro price), and drove back to Switzerland. At the border, they did not even stop us, let alone checking for our Swiss visas. So, get a car, if you don't get a visa. :-) After dropping Vibhor at EPFL, a very tired me reached home at 3:30 am.

French Riviera

And in the morning, we left the hostel after a heavy free breakfast. And had the first view of the gorgeous mediterranean sea. The sun-drenched beaches and azure blue sea form the fabled playground of the rich and famous, and many budget tourists too. We decided to explore the western part of Riviera today, Nice being in the middle. Did not even bother to go the beach of Nice. Because whatever dreams one has about Nice's beach, the hard reality is an endless stretch of pebbles and no waves at all. So we drove down the road hugging the coast onto Cannes. yes, of the film festival fame. Posed on the red carpet, on which walk the famous movie stars during the festival time. Then went on to the lovely sandy beach of Cannes. Well, was expecting to see nudity and toplessness and and all that - having heard a lot about it. But, still was not prepared for this. Everywhere on view - the beach was packed - people was sun-bathing in such a fashion as not to have tan lines. Thoughts flashed through my mind - about the cycle of life. When people become super cultured - the French invariably are - they become like pre-historic people shedding all inhibitions. Anyway, in 2 days got so used to it, that it seemed to bask au naturel felt normal. Anyway, will not dwell on this topic any further...
Jumped into the sea. Cool nice water was refreshing from the hot sun. And swimming after such a long time, felt immense joy. I am Hazem swam a long way into the sea and was there for almost like a couple of hours. And the sea is so pleasant with little waves, that you don't have to fight with it, like we need to back home.

Then we drove to St Tropez. Found the famous Pampelonne beach and immediately could see what it was so famous for. White sand, light blue waters gradually becoming deep blue witht the depth, and huge cruise ships and yatchs anchored within a few hundred metres of the shore. It looked like one of those picture postcards or calendars of the tropical. And this isn't no postcard. It was for real. For a while, we even forgot to jump into the sea. Then jumped into the sea for another long session of frolicking in the water. And finally, with much effort came out of the water and started driving back to Nice. My skin was completely sun-burnt from having spent the whole day in the beach. It was stretched, red, and inflamed, and badly burnt. But, we did not care. So worth it.

Then we decided to see the famous Monte Carlo casino at Monaco - an hours drive from Nice. Monaco is a separate principaute, ruled by a king and queen. So, my country counter actually increased. :-) Had dinner there, being careful to avoid the very expensive looking restaurants, but still not saving much money. Had the most exquisite salmon - how long can you keep a bengali on pizza and no fish after all. We dint enter the Monte Carlo casino on there being a 10Euro fee, but entered the free Paris Cafe casino. The glitz and glamour was all there, but I think Las Vegas is much more grandoise and casinos more plentyful. Outside was where all the fun was. People were just settled on the footpaths seeing the rich people and their cars. Had not seen so many Ferraris and Lamborginis in my life. They went around with a deep throaty sound at the low speed. All were red. How I wished I could be the driver for just a little tiny time. And the Porsche 911 carreras looked so passe. Dint know the muslims are forbidden gambling - Hazem informed me. It's really nice that some things are put into religions because they are bad, and make it as a rule so that people will not do it. Once more a proof, why religion is so very important in one's life. While driving back got lost badly around Nice, paid toll many times (all the highways in France takes massive toll), and reached the hostel an hour late at 2 am or so.

La Route des Grandes Alpes

Today we went down The route of the grand alps. We - that is yours truly, Hazem, the brother of my officemate at Rice Khaled now interning at Grenoble and Vibhor from IITD interning at EPFL - started from Grenoble around 11 am. Before that I made a failed attempt to add either of them as additional drivers of the car. But, Hertz refused on their licenses being Indian and Egyptian. I was a bit apprehensive initially as the drive was long, but as you will see later, I thanked my gods that they dint get the permit. Also, our car got changed from Lausanne itself into a Volkswagon Polo, upgraded as they didn't have the smallest car. It was good, as I was not sure of driving all around with some stupid American car. :-)

Now, Grenoble is right in the middle of a valley surrounded by high alps all around. Someone who had lived there had told me, it is really a bit depressing and clautrophobic living like that. It's true actually. But, it is still famous on lieu of being on the French Alps and acts as a big base for the ski loving Europeans. I started driving on the highways initially - pretty much similar to US - and then took the small windy mountainous road which became the famous route further down. It was a beautiful road surrounded by mountains all around. The road steadily winding it's way up the slopes. The car was sluggish because of its 67 bhp, and 3 people in it. Also, I guess I had gotten used to the surge of power from my M3. I had my foot down on the accelerator throughout, which my passengers seemed a little tensed about. But, they got used to it, at least I hoped so. And this is a perennial problem, my dad confirmed - driver has the control of his car and knows how it feels, but the passengers can't understand that.

Anyways. We were going up along the mountains, climbing steadily higher and higher. Sometimes, we would reach a lovely plateau, all verdant green and nice. At the highest point of our trip, we reached such a lovely plateau and stopped. It was filled with grazing sheep, the bells from their necks made lovely tinkling noises. Felt so surreal. So, the bells that DDLJ made famous, does really hand from the necks of cows and sheep - and not from doors. That's only for tourists. I was enjoying driving a lot by now. Had gotten completely confortable with the car, and it was responding purr-fectly to my hard driving. On downslopes, even engine braking was not working as much. So, I was pretty much driving at 80-100 km/hr along narrow mountainous roads. Thrilling. And quite a few cars was doing the same. Screeching tires. Hair-pin bends. Deep valleys. lovely mountains. Snow peaks here and there. green meadows. In all a heady mix. Then came a portion of the highway which was mostly so narrow as to let only one car pass. I had been to such roads in the Himalayas, but of course had never driven. Every time a car came from the opposite direction, one of them had to stop or back up at a broad enough space for both cars to pass. Finally after 8 hours of driving - and a couple of times getting lost on the little town road along the way - we reached Nice at 8 pm.

It was then that we realized that none of us had the name, address or phone number of the hostel we were supposed to stay at night. So dumb of us. After 1 hour of aimless roaming about, I got the hostel name from my laptop, went into an internet cafe and found the directions and reached there at 10 pm. By that time I was dead tired from all the driving. But, we went out for dinner in the lovely old town of Nice. Had, what else, pizza. The cheapest option in this amazingly touristy town. And while coming back, I gave in to much pestering from Vibhor and let him drive. In 2 seconds, he had backed onto another car while getting out of the parking lot. It was bad, but I felt better thinking that this happened in the parking lots, and not in the crazy streets outside with some miving car. Then I drove back and just crashed onto my bed - one of the rows of beds lined up in a big room teeming with people.

French Riviera

So, now back to planning for my next trip. :-) And this time it's gonna be south France. More specifically Rhone Alps region (near Chamonix and Grenoble) and French Riviera (Nice and Cannes and Monte Carlo). See the map of France. Rented a car today from Hertz. 2 of us will be going from Lausanne, and another will join us from Grenoble. We will be driving along the Route of the Grande Alpes. First time I will be driving in Europe, so very excited. It's a small 2 door car - the cheapest - called Ford Ka. Ford specially makes these cars for europe, as obviously it won't sell in America. Wanted a mini cooper, but it's too expensive.

So, I will file my trip report after coming back from there on sunday night. So, till then ciao, and keep biting your nails in anticipation. Au revoir.

no topic

My wireless internet at home went off today. I can still use the cable by going to the living room. Actually, the guy whose it was, is going back to Montreal, his home town. We would be visiting each other surely sometime. Have heard so much about Montreal. And I am really ashamed to admit I have never gone to either Mexico or Canada in my 4 years in US. Have gone so much within US, infact have visited everything visitable (is there such a word?) except montana/yellowstone NP. But, Mexico/Canada - no. :-( Hope to correct the discrepency in my final year of PhD.

Have started writing less about swiss and lausanne, right? Yeah, actually getting used to seeing the picture perfect lake and mountains beyond that everyday between home and office. and enjoying the absolutely perfect temperature from 15-25 degrees. Getting used to perfection. :-)

U[swastika]A

Oh. totally forgot to mention this. Saw lots of signs all over munich with U[Swastika]A written on the walls. Swastika is the most hated sign in Germany. And they watch with horror as USA is becoming similar. And so many people asked me - "Why are the Americans so brash? Why do they speak so loudly amongst people? Why do they expect everyone to know English? Why can't they even try to speak, at least to greet in the local tongue?" What could I answer. Told them the reason - They are amazingly insular in their outlook. Don't know a thing or have no intention of knowing a thing outside their boundaries. As they are on top of the world right now, they feel that they don't need to learn from anybody. Everybody should learn from them. They ask me if I speak "Indian" or I speak "Hindu". Yes, really. I have been asked such questions from Americans. Whereas Europeans ask - "which part? Oh, Calcutta. I have heard so much. You must be speaking Bengali then. My brother visited last year, and I am planning to go there next year.etc.etc." Of course, these are some generalizations, and I have met some most fascinating and knowledgable americans too. The people for which the nation became as great as it is now.

End of the trip

Today morning, got up from my creaky bunk bed. The guy sleeping the lower bunk must have had a hard time sleeping with all the creeking noises. And headed straight for the BMW museum. Unfortunately it was closed, but could see the factory were those ultimate driving machines were created, from outside. Then took the long train journey back to Lausanne, changing trains at Zurich. Finished the book I was reading - Kafka's short stories. Metamorphosis and a few other short stories. Really very dark fantacies he had. Thinking himself to be a dog, an insect amongst others. Liked it in a strange way though.

Onto Bavaria

Woke up very early today to catch the 8 am train for Munchen (Munich in german). It is the capital of Bavaria, the largest province in Germany. Residents here are unique and the land is what when most foreigners conjure up images of Germany. Munich always happens to be the home of my favorite BMW - Bavarian Motor Works. Reaching Munich, I checked into The Tent, a huge tent hostel put up in the outskirts of the city. For 10E, it was damn cheap too and the reason I reached there. Most of the people were backpackers, travelling for months together discovering and smitten by europa.

I went out to the centre of Munich called Marienplatz. There in the plaza is the Neues Rathaus and Altes Rathaus (New and old city hall). Mike's bike tour takes one around Munich by bike while showing the sights. I took it at Amsterdam, I remember, and the guide had offered us marijuana at the end of the trip - it is legal in holland. So, i met the Mike's bike tour team at 4 pm for the 4 hour tour. There was almost 35 people split up into 2 groups. We went around discovering Munich and learning a little of it's history. As I had heard, most of German cities were completely destroyed in the II World War. So, none of the splendor of old buildings of other european capitals remain. Some are there though, and many are reconstructed from the ruins.
After visiting various monuments and buildings we came to Englischer garten (english garden). It is a huge park, with people nude sunbathing there. Most of those people were eccentric germen men though, we were fore-warned. Right in the middle of the garden was a huge beer garden beside a Chinese pagoda. We stopped there for beer, and I had Weissbier this time - a cloudy blonde beer made from wheat instead of barley. The light and dark beers are called Helles and Dunkles respectively in German.

And after the trip, what did I do? guess. yeah, no prizes for guessing. Headed to the the famous Hofbrauhaus - a famous beer pub in the middle of the city - along with 2 Americans and a dane I had befriended during the tour. We spent most of the rest of the evening and night there, making conversation over the loud noise all around, and live Bavarian music. And beer drinking and talking about everything-under-the-sun again. This is how Let's Go recommended spending in Munich, getting drunk in the pubs. And I just had to follow the recommendation, I like the book so much. :-)

True Viennese style

Today got up pretty late after sleeping so late the night before. The room here is very old style and hence funny. The bathroom, or rather the shower is a little room enclosed by glass into which one climbs into. There is no space there to keep your clothes or anything. And this room is right in the middle of the kitchen. And the toilet is outside the apartment, shared by all the residents of that floors. Reminded me of the old village houses actually - in the style.

We went to Schloss (actually the last ss is a beta, a german letter pronounced similar as ss) Belvedere. It was the summer residence of the Hofburgs, with huge gardens all around. In the cafe there, had my first taste of radler - a kind of half beer, half lemonade. Nice, sweet, and good for a day out in the sun. So these germans/austrians need beer with everything. In fact, their traditional breakfast consists of cold sausage and a glass of beer. Incredible! Came back to the city after that. Then Steffi met us, and we went hiking up a hill with a nice view of Vienna. And while coming down, we stopped at one of the Heurigers on the hills around the city. A little bit of knowledge needs to be imparted now.

A special way of consuming wine, the Heuriger, has developed in Vienna due to the vineyards being so close to the city. Visitors will recognise the real Viennese wine tavern from the Buschen, a bunch of pine tree branches, and the sign hanging in front of the vineyard's entrance, which signifies that the vintner is entitled to sell home-made wines. Only vineyards which have harvested their wine in or around Vienna may call themselves Heuriger (i.e. wine tavern). It is prohibited to add grapes or wine that were bought. Wine taverns, also called Buschenschanken, may be open all year round. It depends on the licence what kind of food may be served, and there must always be a self-service buffet. Wine, however, is served to the tables. On the one hand Heuriger refers to the wine tavern where wine is served, on the other hand it is the name used for this year's wine. This new wine becomes old wine, called Alter, after 11 November, St. Martin's Day, which means that the new wine which has turned from Most (must) to Sturm (crackling young wine) to Staubiger has matured.

Anyway, enough of fundae. We tasted some really fresh and nice Heuriger, served in mugs instead of wine glasses. And I also remember while getting drunk about us discussing the virtues of arranged marriage, trying to impress upon 2 westerners why it is not such a bad idea at all. Anway, then we came back to the city and settled in a pub. And sat there discussing god-knows-what-not till late in the night. And being served by awesome beers regularly. So, this is how people here spend time. Not too much different from bangali adda, sans the alcohol. While going back, we took a long stroll around town. The weather was perfect, and the streets were still buzzing with people at 1 am.

A day in Vienna

Today for the whole day, I roamed about Vienna. My friend will join me after his day in office and German class. Armed with a map and directions, I was excited to traverse vienna. Vienna has a strong cafe culture. The coffee matters, but the atmosphere matters more. These cafes were a haven for artists, writers, thinkers who flocked there and stayed long composing and debating. It is the living room of the city. Went first to Stephansplatz, the home of the most treasured symbol of vienna - St. Stephen's Cathedral. And the inside of it was as gorgeous as those churches were - similar to Milan and Florence. Took the lift to the top of north tower, from where I could see much of Vienna. Then went down Petersplatz, closed to traffic except feet and hooves. Majestic walkway with beautiful building all around. Close by was the Jugendstill Ankeruhr(clock). 12 historical figure rotate by every hour at the accompaniment of traditional music. There was big crowd of people watching out for it at noon. Then visited the Stadttempel, the only synagogue in Vienna to escape Nazi destruction during the third reich. Close by was the Hofburg - the winter residence of the Hofburg emperors who ruled Austria from 1279 to 1916. It is a sprawling residence with numerous additions over the 600 years. Moved on next to the huge museum district. There was a nice nature photography show outside the complex sponsored by Kodak. Spent a long time there looking at those amazing picture, most were from the air though, so no hope of my reliving it. The museums had a very crazy display there, some wierld photographs, I did'nt understand what the artist was trying to show. Also, a mixed show of lifesize puppets marking the similarities and differences between kenyan and english culture. Quite humourous. Walked after that to the Altes Rataus (Old Town Hall), a gorgeous building. But, the english pronounciation of the name is quite funny! In front of it was the open air month long film festival - one of those innumerable shows in european capitals every summer. And there was food from around the world in the foreground, including Indien. At the end of the day realized that no wonder, Vienna often tops the list of most beautiful European cities, only competitor being Paris.

While lazily strolling in the afternoon, and the day was getting a little too hot, I met with an Indian girl, Jahnavi from Gatech with her German boyfriend. Both study history of science. Shared some cups of cafe-au-lait which watching little austrian kids jumping into the pool of water in the middle to beat the heat. The German guy ad gone to India for a month recently, and was extremely disturbed to see the swastika symbol at their doorstep. The Germans are still coming to terms with their past, I think.

Met Ben at night. Then we along with his german girlfriend, Steffi, walked around in the night of Vienna. Had dinner at an open air pub with Irish broth, and some excellent beer. And had a very heady discussion with the, till late in the night in true Viennese style. More on that later.

Prost

Caught the train to go to Vienna today. Had been planning this trip for pretty long time. Ben, a fellow student from Rice was here spending his summer at University of Wien(Vienna in austrian/German). And he was going back the next weekend, so pretty much decided to go this weekend (well, okay. an extended weekend). Changed trains at zurich to catch the train to Vienna. The total journey took 12 hours, but time past pleasantly. Lausanne-Zurich I had done quite a few times, so concentrated on my Let's Go Western Europe for some information on vienna and munich. I had used the book so much in the last 3 years, that it was almost in tatters held together by some tape. Invaluable book. I recommend it to anyone who is or wants to fall in love with the old world.

I will quote from the book, I must -- "If Western Europe were in high school, she'd be the girl that all the others students love to hate. She has a voice crafted by the likes of Verdi and Mozart. When she opens her mouth in class, pearls of wisdomfrom Dante, Sartre, and Kierkegaard drop forth. She was a classic before the word had meaning, and the rest of the class hurries frantically to copy her style. She wore a toga in the court of Caesar, and now adorns herself in the more terrestrial chic of Chanel and Armani. She moves from sipping Ambrosia to champagne with seamless grace but isn't above tossing back a few pints of Guinness, or screaming herself hoarse at a football match. Why wate the time envying a creation this divine when Western Europe is there for the taking, an inexhaustible supply of art, music and natural beauty? This is one Homecoming queen who is far from unapproachable. So ask her out. Go." Could anyone have put it any better? And I am so fortunate to get the chance to discover this exotic beauty called Europe.

As my train moved towards the border of Austria, I frequenty looked up from my research. So beautiful outside. Rolling meadows, high mountains at a distance, crystal clear lakes. At the border came the customary immigration check, and we moved on. We moved along a narrow valley with high mountains on both sides, following the path of a tributary of danube. Snow capped Alpine peaks peeked here and there, majestically rising high above. One had to crane his neck to see the high mountain tops. Gradually, the valley widened with lush green meadows of
wildflowers, thick and dark forests and rolling countryside. It was heavenly - the land of the Sound of Music. Reached vienna late that night, thankfully my friend was there to receive me. And so I was in Vienna - the cultural heart of Europe for centuries. Here from came Freud's theories, Kafka's dark fantasies, and Mozart, Beethoven and Mahler's deathly beautiful music. This city is at the crossroads of East and Western Europe, drawing the best (and worst) of them both.

Went forth to a tiny pub after freshening up at the house. Over the beer mug, I learned to look at the partners eyes directly and saw "prost". If one did not, as the legend in these parts go, one was condemned to seven years of bad sex. And so, everyone in the pub did their prost very very seriously.

bye bye

Today was spent mostly in working. Also, sp is going away on saturday. I pushed him to go to Berne and interlaken since he has not been there in his last 2 month stay. Coming to switzerland without going to Interlaken (the playground of Europe) will surely be bad. His boss, Sonja had asked him to run quite a few simulations more, which according to him would have taken all of his next 2 days. But, wrote some scripts for him which automated all his runs, and he is very happy to go now. A really really nice chap. I had gone to his house yesterday night and cooked chicken. Both of us had pretty much a whole chicken...I had not forgotten cooking after all. Also, used my cd burner after a long time to copy the countless songs and movies he has managed to download over the last few months. Some enthu these chaps have. That's why I guess iit-ians are so much in demand. Channel their brimming energy in the right direction, and consider your work done. But, keeping them (well, ok. us :-) ) motivated is pretty hard too. And an idle mind becomes a devils workshop.

Long meeting

Met with Milan today for a 3 hour meeting. This was pretty much the last meeting I had with him, since he was going the next day back to Cambridge, and then onto vacation for the month of July. He explained to me quite a bit more on the mobility model problem I was doing. Really good productive meeting, so what if had to skip lunch. Now, have quite some work to do. But, it should be doable and I will try to complete it by 15 august when my boss comes back from his vacation. Boss is also going on vacation tomorrow. Yeah, everyone is europe takes a holiday for 1 to 2 months in July and August. The weathers near perfect, and everyone spends their time outdoors. Chose a really splendid time to come here.

Lundi

And today, had weekly meeting with boss. My eyes were almost shutting down. Tired and lack of sleep. will go home early today. zzzzzz.......

dimache is for hiking

And the reason I worked yesterday, was todays day-long hiking trip. Went to fiesch in the 7 am train from Lausanne. Lot of people - in total 8 of us. Megha, Satya, Gaurav and Vibhor 0 interning at EPFL from IITD. And 2 swiss guys - David and Michael. Went by ropeway to Eggishorn and then did a long 6 hour hike along crazily beautiful high mountain along a glacier. A really nice and memorable experience, and also very enjoyable company. Took quite a few pictures and will post them when I get to develop the film. Need to switch to digital, i think pretty soon. :-|
Saw a lovely view of a vast glacier, and high mountain ranges all around. Was pretty cold, but with all the exsertion we were doing, not feeling it at all. So, many people were doing hand gliding, diving from hilltops and seemingly floating forever in the air. Need to do it sometime. Except the prohibitive cost of learning it and doing it is a bit of a dampner. But, kabhi to karengey.

Samedi work

Work on Samedi by Santa? Can you believe it..Yeah, that is what I had to do unfortunately today. The day was so beautifully gorgeous outside, taunting me. Found myself looking out of the windows every few minutes. But, resisted the temptation. And because of this, post will be short. :-)

Vendredi

Another friday today. A friend from Rice, Balu, has come over to EPFL for a month. Met him today evening. Then we went for a stroll to Ouchy, which is close to where I live. They were having a live band. Ate Italian Pizza over there. Then went to Flon. Basically, acted as local guide to Balu, me the veteran for 3 weeks.
My new house has wireless and cable modem. Though, pretty crapy speed and variable latency. Anyway, I think the wireless router is going off soon as the guy - Nadim is moving back to Montreal after spending a semester at EPFL. So, will have to sit in the drawing room to connect to net. Very funny housing. Much of it is glass windows, top to bottom. So, people have devised ingenous ways to cover them up - a few of them only though. The flat opposite to me has in big letters on the window written - :) is you want a kiss. Other 2 roomates are - Cristian from Peru, and Peter from Germany.

About rolling friction

Today afternoon went and shifted my apartment from Planet Bleue to FMEL Cedres. Very cool place actually; just beside the lac (means lake, you duffer :-). But, in trying to save money by not taking a cab, I rediscovered quite a few basic laws of physics. Rolling friction while less than the other kind, is definitely there, and there is force. I was walking for 30 minutes (most of it downhill, thank god) and had a very torturous experience. Finally reached though, but not before a very good workout. And had to use a translator with out concierge today. He was trying to explain to me a lot of things, and I could not understand a word. I just caught the word 'fenetre' which means window. He was trying to say that the window is broken and will be repaired.
Net is working very badly today. And all the BTechs have left the lab, as they can't do their chatting which they do uninterrupted everyday. One of them said - how can one live without chat and sms? sms is what is do throughout the class lectures at iit. and switch to yahoo mesg outside of class. :-)

Shifting house

Tomorrow I am going to shift my house to move to another hostel - much cheaper. Went this morning to talk with the concierge -opening hours are only from 7:30-8:00 and 2:00 to 2:30.
So, that guy only speaks French. I am proud to announce that I successfully negotiated with him and asked about all the details. Helped of course by the fact that english and french share the same script. :-)
There the summer school going on at EPFL right now for 3 weeks. Will go in a moment to attend todays talk. Realy productive work environment they have over here

Meetings

Today had a very productive meeting with my professor here. Told him what I have done, am doing, and will do in the next one month. Also met our collaborator from Microsoft Research, Cambridge who had come over for the week. Then we all went out for lunch at one of the innumerable restaurants around campus. The French (well, swiss french) really are into gastronomic pleasures of life.

Monday Blues

Was most tired today in office after a hectic sunday. Barely walking..

Montreux Jazz Festival

Today morning got up early, as I had decided to bike to Montreux for the
Montreux Jazz Festival going on now. It happens for 2 weeks every summer. Well, one must be wondering -- are there festivals going on in Europe every day? Actually, for more than 6 months in Europe it snows and is too cold. Only for 3/4 for months from June to September is the weather fantastic and therefore people are always outdoors. hence, they have a variety of festivals.
But, actually Montreux jazz festival is a very famous event, now in it's 38th year. Not just for musicians, but also for people who come from around the continent to attend it.
I went with a friend from Singapore, Ling. Sp, who was also supposed to go fell sick and hence could not. The biking trail was on the side of the road, many times on the road itself without any separate biking lane. But, it is very safe to bike here as there are many bikers on the road, and cars are careful of them. The route was fantastic, with the Lac geneva on one side, and mountains on the other. Lots of white wine plants were on the mountain side using terrace farming - this region is famous for it's white wine. After almost 2 hours of sometimes pretty tiring cycling, reached Montreux. There at 11 am, the city was just beginning to get up, as the festival goes on till 5 am every morning. We went around the hordes of stalls, selling various curios and worldwide food.
This weekend was Brazil weekend, and everywhere the colours were yellow and green, dancing to the tune of samba and bahia. Got the last ticket to a Samba boat which is like a music boat. The Boat had various samba bands playing throughout, and lots of people dancing, which it went around Lac Geneve. Across lac geneve, on the other side is france, and saw it from very close.
It was nonstop music - and there were so many brazilians and latinos who had come all over to attend this festival weekend. These latinos are always dancing, they must feel suffocated at the formalism of Europe, I thought. Came back from the ship at 6:30 pm, and was greeted by rain. Went into some indoor jazz showings, which were free. Vocal jazz is pretty different, which various sounds, and some words which I din't understand. The saxophone and other instrument were very nice. Then took the 8:40 train for the 20 minute journey back to Lausanne. Could also put up the bike into a bike rack in the train. Was very tired, hence was glad that I was not biking back. Then had kebab at the Lausanne station and came back home. Immediately fell asleep.

Festival De La Cite

Today woke up at noon --- after having to get up early every day, I understood the joys of sleeping late. I won't complain anymore if people sleep late during weekends lazily.
Went out for buffet lunch to Manor with a Lebanese friend from my hostel. He showed me around the centre city, all buzzing with activity - vendors on the streets selling a variety of things and people thronging the steets window shopping and actual shopping. They don't get chance to do any shopping in the weekdays with shops closing so early by 7 pm.
Then went for sometime to EPFL. Worked a bit. Then went out with SP and Basu to Lausanne city again. Got information about hiking and biking maps around lausanne, and also got to know where one can get free bikes.
Then went to this Festival De La Cite. It is basically the festival of the city which they have every summer for a couple of weeks. And today was the last day. There are various stages, with performers singing, dancing, doing plays, and various such activities. All were open air. The there were people in hordes, buoyed by the excellent weather. The temperature has rarely gone beyond 15-25 C range during my stay here at Lausanne. There were also lots of stalls selling food from around the globe, and various knick-knacks. Came back from there around 10 pm, and had dinner with my friends at their home with rice, dal and omlete.

Lab outing

Today, for the first time this week, there was no events scheduled. No, I was wrong. In the evening, at 6:30 there was the annual lab outing. All the students, profs, and a few alumni of the lab were loaded into a bus which went to vivey - a mountain town between the lake (or lac) and the mountain about 30 minutes away from Lausanne. We trekked uphill for about 15 minutes to reach the restaurant at the top of a hill-top. And thereby proceeded to enjoy a five-course meal interceded by suitable gaps for you to digest the previous offering. This ended at 11 pm finally. Saw some amazing views of the lighted small town below, the lake, and the mountain further away. Also, got to meet and interact with Prof. Hubuax - a big name in our field. We decided to meet later on next week.
I had to walk back at midnight from the station (or Gare) where the bus dropped me, back to my hostel. that 30 minutes walk was actually pretty frentic, with drunk people all around throwing bottles, jeering, and generally having a drunken orgy with noone to stop them. This I later came to know was the party district of Lausanne, which happened to be on my way back.

Research day at EPFL

And today, was the annual research day for the IC school of EPFL. Lots of nice lectures by famous people. Met Rolf and discussed some work with him too. And finally, got my EPFL student badge today. yipeee...
Actually, pretty tired from the last 3 days of hectic travelling and listening to talks. So, going home to sleep. More later tomorrow.

Workshop in Zurich

Back from attending a terminodes (project i am part of at EPFL) workshop at Zurich. Was there on tuesday and half of wednesday. Lots of networking, and saw some cool work. The workshop was held at the Univ of Zurich campus. it has 20 nobel laurettes. Can you believe that?
On the way back, visited Luzern. Nice city, right in the centre of switzerland. Visited a transport museum, and an old wooden bridge.

Tirez or Poussez

To tirez or to poussez, that is the question. And I am still baffled by it. To put it in context; to enter my office in the department, I have to go through atleast 4 doors - one for the College, one for department, building and then lab. And I am confused at every door - should I pull or should I push. And I try out both and invariably my frist try is the wrong one. So, I discovered that discreetly written near the door was 'tirez' meaning pull, or 'poussez' meaning push. And now, I see before pulling or pushing and my problem is solved.

Greece victorious

Watched the first half of the match in our tv room last night. Quite a few people were there watching it, as they had exams the next day. But, then I found Raphael who also wanted to go and watch it from a pub, like I did. And during the half-time we went to a pub. It was crowded as hell, with just enough standing space. Watched Greece play outstanding soccer with a couple of beers and cigerettes. They fully deserved their maiden win.
Then after the match, we walked along the streets to hear a cacophony of car horns. Almost every car was speeding along the roads honking, shouting, waving flags, shirts, and whatever they could find. We cheered them on. The sleepy Swiss people were getting up from their beds and peering through the windows to see what it was all about.

Euro Cup Final

Today is Euro Cup final. That's why I will return early from Basel today. Take the 5 pm train to reach Lausanne back by 7 pm. Then maybe I will hand around our tv room to watch it with my apartment people there, or go to some pub to see it on a big screen along with a pint. It's fun watching it with the people in my complex though - 1 Italian , 2 French, 1 German, 1 Nigerean, and a few assorted others. all of them are a study of perfection of their own nationalities. The German stoic, never speaking unless spoken to , very quiet. The Italian always smiling, swearing, and general enjoying life. And the french very talkative, forever arguing, and joking and cursing. :-) well, these are very vague and general descriptions, I agree; but really, this is the case. I was laughing silently to myself when I observed these.

Onto Basel

On friday, I left early at 4 pm to go to Buli-dis place at Basel. It is a 2-hour journey, and having to change the train once after an hour at Bien. The train was waiting right on the opposite platform though, and it was no hassle at all. This is how the clockwork Swiss Rail works - connecting very conviniently. The other day, the metro I take to go to school came a couple of minutes late. Very surprising considering the clock-work precision of
everything here. Sure enough, the problem was with my watch - it was two minutes too fast.
Very excited to be seeing Bulidi, Prithda and their little kid Parthiv (who I was seeing for the first time). Got a cool remote car and some funky American clothes for him. Hope it fits him. 18 months for American kids might be too big for Indian kids though.

IITians are omnipresent

EPFL campus is teeming with IITians in the summer. They come for their third year summer internships, and come in hordes. So, I heard there are like 25-30 IITians at present on campus. They work mostly in the Informatique and Communication department, coming from either Computer Science and Electrical in India. How do they come? Well, they write. they write hordes of letters (suck letters - Dont know them? Well they are 'some useful
constructive conning' letters) to ask professors in the European Institutes to take them for summer internships. And many european institutes like EPFL have started a regular summer program to take these undergrads on some projects. Wow. could you have thought of that in our times - Europe for a summer internship in your undergrad. I did mine in Kolkata. :-) And boy, do I feel old; these guys are 2005 batch, making me 5 years senior. Today a couple of them took me to their home nearby for lunch. They cooked rice, daal, and alu bhaaja. Though the rice was burnt and dal was just boiled dal, I enjoyed their hospitality a lot, as well as the effort they take in cooking everyday 2 meals. Because, it is well neigh impossible for a student here to survive by eating out - it is so expensive to eat out. I will have to start real cooking - not the parathas and maggi - real soon. Maybe after I shift to my new apartment on 15 Julie.

Euro Cup

Was watching EuroCup semifinal between Portugal and Pays-Bas(Netherlands) in our
TV room last night with a bunch of other people. So, portugal was winning and
everyone (majorly french and swiss) seemed very happy with that. all the major
european powers dont like each other, and are happy if they lose it seems. :-)
esp the french - they hate the british and germans, I came to know. anyway, portugal
won the match 2-1 much to everyones delight, and I came back home to do some work
and write this. But, there seemed to be a huge traffic snarl or something like that -
the cars outside were honking almost incessantly. After 15 minutes of enduring, I went
out. Found no traffic snarls. But, cars were driving around with flags of Portugal
waving, and shouting. Honks were to express their joy. Nice... rememebed 2 summers back
in Paris, when Senegal had defeated franch in the world cup, and the senegalese were
doing the same on the streets of paris jeering at the crest-fallen French.

Met my other roommate, Cyrille. She is a swiss from some place near Basle. She studies
social sciences after shifting from Music last year. Wants a lot
to go and do a year of study in america, but can't go. It's too far, and she can't
leave her boyfriend behind. hmmm...makes me wonder. :-)